I can count the times in my years of examining personal technology devices when I have been astounded by a new product. Being a sceptical journalist is a good thing! However, when Google demonstrated a few photographic wizardry on its new Pixel 8 and Pixel 8 Pro devices, I was unable to keep that distance. 

When used independently, these functions are simple enough for anyone familiar with Photoshop or video editing software to use. However, the new Pixel phones make them available to everyone, which is both thrilling and, to be honest, a little unsettling. Let's examine them. 

Google revealed a sneak peek of this functionality in May at its developer conference. It's the logical progression of Google's Magic Eraser, which was released a few years back. With the latter, you can remove extraneous elements from your picture, such as a background person or a fire hydrant. The entire picture can be warped to new heights using Magic Editor.

Google displayed an image of a female sprinting on a beach during a demo. A representative pressed on the topic while using Magic Editor in the Google Photos app, and the programme precisely created a cutout. The topic could then be moved anywhere in the scene, and the software filled in the empty spaces with what it believed belonged there. Naturally, Google selected these images, but Magic Editor did a fantastic job of accurately filling them in. 

Moreover, Magic Editor made it possible to adjust the lighting in the scene. You may effortlessly convert a noontime photo with harsh lighting to golden hour to achieve those gorgeously warm evening tones, and you could even include a sunset!  

A child preparing to make a ground shot of a basketball in another picture. The spokesperson stated, nonchalantly, "You can move their shadow too!" after grabbing the person in the picture and lifting him into the air to give the impression that he was going to dunk.

I discussed computational photography and digital photo editing with MIT Media Lab associate professor Ramesh Raskar last year. Now his words seem prophetic. Businesses are presuming that, regardless of whether it fits reality or not, "most consumers would like to just take a photo, click a button, and get something they really would like to see," according to Raskar. Imagine arriving in Paris to see the Eiffel Tower obscured by fog. "You want to take a family portrait with the Eiffel Tower in the background, looking like it's a nice, bright day, right? You'll be pleased if someone can put an optimistic, cheerful picture of the Eiffel Tower behind your family.

Magic Editor makes this easier than it has ever been. Additionally, it's possible that you'll come across more malicious, warped photos that might gently alter the reality of a situation, much like the Donald Trump viral images created by AI that went popular over the summer. Truth searchers do, however, have some hope since, according to Google, the information will indicate whether or not Magic Editor was used. However, it's not hard to remove metadata from photos, therefore its effectiveness is questionable.

Everybody has taken group shots in which one person has their eyes closed or turned aside. Parents of energetic children will be relieved to read Best Take (albeit it may also cause minor fear). 

Most smartphones take numerous pictures at different exposures when you take a picture, which allows you to acquire well-exposed shots in a variety of lighting conditions. To make someone's closed eyes open again, Google takes a snapshot of the person's face, replaces it with one that shows their eyes open. 

This reminds me of a function Google released years ago called Top Shot, which appears when you press the shutter button and proposes a maybe better frame from the sequence of photographs taken. Nevertheless, Best Take has the ability to select a frame from a set of up to six pictures that were taken in close succession—useful if the photographer takes several pictures at once.